Donald Trump’s Deputy Assistant was wheeled out in front of the American media yesterday, giving an absolute masterclass in how to speak for 10 minutes without saying anything of substance.
Sebastian Gorka, the London-born former Breitbart editor with a bogus Ph.D, had stepped up to defend Trump Jr from accusations he was less than honest about emails that showed the Russian government was actively assisting his father in the 2016 election.
Speaking to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Gorka repeatedly dodged questions, resorted to petty insults and accused the host of “fake news”.
The conversation began with Gorka addressing why the White House has been so quiet as it dealt with the fallout from the Trump Jr revelations.
Gorka, who is British-born and of Hungarian descent, was a few months ago embroiled in a scandal after pictures emerged of him wearing a military medal associated with Hungarian Nazi sympathisers.
Gorka defended himself by saying he wears it to commemorate his father’s anti-Communist efforts in mid-20th century Hungary.
He said: “In 1979, my father was awarded a decoration for his resistance to dictatorship, and although he passed away 14 years ago I wear that medal in remembrance of what my family went through and what it represents to me as an American.”
The medal was given to Gorka’s father by Vitezi Rend, a group composed of supporters of Miklos Horthy, the former ruler of Hungary.
The White House has not commented on the historical links of the medal.
Gorka claims to be an expert on radical Islam and published a book titled Defeating Jihad: The Winnable War last April.
He stresses his Ph.D in Political Science, even using it in his Twitter bio.
But a profile in POLITICO, states:
Several experts interviewed by POLITICO puzzled over the gap between the numerous military academic credentials listed by Gorka — a political science Ph.D. who unfailingly uses the title “Dr.” — and their unfamiliarity with his work and views.
When I first encountered his name during the transition, I did a triple-take. I’ve been in counterterrorism since 1998, and I thought I knew everyone. But I’d never heard his name and couldn’t recall anything he’d written or said,” said Daniel Benjamin, who served as counterterrorism coordinator under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Retired Col. Peter Mansoor, a former top aide to Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq who helped rewrite the Army’s counterinsurgency manual, also said he’s never crossed paths with Gorka. “What I’ve heard has not been complimentary,” added Mansoor, who now teaches at Ohio State University and remains active in military circles.
He has previously said he was an “expert witness” during the trial of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev but it recently transpired that he never actually took the stand.
He was National Security Affairs Editor for Breitbart before Trump called him into his team.